Friday, February 27, 2015

Aquired:FSA: 13 (+4 since last time) FSP: 10 I picked up a cruiser box to complement my Overseers box; I intend to make them into Namor class cruisers, with or without a Heavy Cruiser attached

Completed:FSP: 24 (+6)FSA: 1 (+1)Not much more than my Khitari kadre, and on the FSA side my long suffering Dagon Battlecarrier.

Removed:FSA: 6

I've also
started over with my two Sedna Heavy Skimmers for FSP, after some
searching I found a decent paint remover, although it requires you to be
careful (leave the model in too long, and you have a pile of rubber on
your hands...).I've heard good things of rubbing alcohol, all I need is a way to source it locally...

The above picture is a fairly decent summary of the battle; although I lay slightly ahead of the damage game, I could not contest with someone holding three out of four objectives, and he won fair and square at the end of round two.

Highlights include my Locatu Tank Destroyers wiping a Directorate medium tank from across the board, despite being on Overwatch, and my Haumea Heavy Tank locking on to, and subsequently almost wiping, a buggy squadron, both in the first round.

Next time I will include a Recon Helix, to take objectives if nothing else.

The last turn was almost as bad as the image above describes.
A single Spook on it's last damage point managed to shunt away from my Corvettes, but other than that the entire RSN force was wiped out.

I wish I could take credit for the victory, that my bold plan an unprecedented tactics won the day, but in reality it was a combination of jammy dice on my part, and my opponent not really being used to the RSN (he borrowed the fleet), they seem to take some getting used to...

Also, minefields are brutal vs the low DR and CR of the RSN Cruisers and Destroyers, and I put two (from my escorts) along the path he needed to take out of deployment with his cruisers.

The new Shiva gunships might be my favourite of the new Return of the Overseers Aquan ships, dual shields and decent firepower, both from beams and torpedoes, creates a winning combination. Very good survivability stats does not hurt, either.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

So, at long last I finally made some decent progress on my first Khitari Cadre, I'd go so far as to say that it is finished! (Bar a coat of varnish and some spots I noticed in the photos...). Once that is done I'll be up to 24 finished models so far...

Now for the Heavy Helix!
I'm skipping the Recon Helix for now, I need to put in some serious modelling time to get both the infantry and Gunship to where I want them.
For the infantry I intend to follow vonHymacks Tutorial for removing the flash, and I'm still not sure about the gunship... It needs a little bit of something. Also, I couldn't keep myself from putting some paint on the wonderful pieces of resin that is the Locatu Tank Destroyers:

I know that the model looks like white resin, but that is actually after a coat of my cheap grey primer.

With some effort I should be able to have all three in a semi-painted state until my game on Thursday.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

So, with the advent of the Overseers box I recently received I've started thinking about what to do with the ships therein.I've got slightly more than 2000 points of Aquans painted so far, in a fairly easy turquoise scheme, but I've been thinking about doing something different for this batch.My fleet so far got done in a concentrated effort last spring, and I'd like to avoid getting bored with my regular paint scheme (I got a bit burned out towards the end...). I'd also like to limit myself a bit, set a clear goal to make it easier to commit to, and hence get done.The launch of Planetfall got me brainstorming some ideas around; what would a Quick Response force look like for the Aquan Sebrutan? Let's face it, once a Directorate raiding fleet has shown up at a colony and blown away it's defenders, you'd want to have something to rapidly reinforce or counter-invade the planet with.The same setup could probably be used for quick hit and run invasions of your own, or intelligence gathering, something like an Aquan version of the USMC, basically.Basically, this would be a themed force, a "Breaking Wave Shoal"**. A small force, concentrating on speed and firepower, and Wings (for rapid transportation of assets to the surface, and aerial support afterwards). Some boarding capabilities and area denial (to keep enemy reinforcements at bay) would probably come in handy as well...So, what does this give us regarding fleet design?Starting with the Return of the Overseers box, there is already a Tier 1, the new Oannes Heavy Carrier, that fits the bill perfectly: good firepower, and either sneaky (Difficult Target on a Tier 1? Don't mind if I do!), or with a decent complement of shields.

The new Shiva Gunships is another solid squadron, plenty of firepower, and with a Sulis in the squadron they should be able to skulk around out of Line of sight fulfilling the stealth criteria, so that takes care of the mandatory Tier 2 squadron (and makes use of the RotO For Smalls, I'm thinking Snapper Corvettes, both because of the speed, but also because of the very handy Elusive Target MAR. For once, I'm actually thinking of upgrading with Pack Hunters, to give some added punch.

That is a T2 squadron and some upgrades short of a Patrol Fleet, I could see either of the three following:

Stingray destroyers, for some added long-range punch

Arual Assault Cruisers, to follow the theme and add some close range capabilities (and the added ties to the Planetfall Recon Helix does not hurt)

Isonade Cruisers, for mine laying capabilities, and harassment (3 regular cruiser with the Mine Hardpoint, with a Heavy to lead them, have a respectable amount of firepower, while still keeping to budget)

For larger fleets I'd probably add one or two Orca battlecruisers and another T2 squadron, rounding out the Firepower theme.The hard part remains, colour scheme!

**Named for where the sea meets land with force, but 'Surf Shoal' sounded a bit... meh.

Gotten about halfway with my Khitari infantry. I'll probably revisit my painting process for next time, though... Staining did not really work as intended on these small models, there are a lot of details that need to be touched up.

Started washing and assembling my Aquan Heavy Helix for Planetfall, including the really nice Locatu tank destroyer models, I'll most definitely get another heavy helix just to get some more of these to paint.

Started working on my Blotz stuff (arrived yesterday): a lot of 10mm building goodness! So far only a small radar dish has seen the light of day, but more will come before the end of the month, including a review of the kits.

That leaves me with a lot of newly acquired models, almost filling my self-imposed 'Sliding Painting Window', which means no more purchases for a while, at least until I've made a dent in the buffer...

Paint tracker status update VModels:

Aquired:FSA: 9 (Return of the Overseers box, so 4 frigates, 4 mediums and a large)FSP: 10 (Heavy Helix, with two bonus Stingrays!)

Completed:FSP:18FSA: 0

Removed:FSA: 6

I also need to do some kind of inventory of my backlog box, with Legions, Armada and Planetfall it is starting to overflow....

Sunday, February 8, 2015

So, I've been a bit non productive lately, that's what happens with two sick kids..

However, Spartan has instead ramped up, and revealed a Kickstarter for modular terrain, and started hinting about a big reveal...
Seeing as their new banner is something closely resembling a Halo Spartan helmet, I'm going to assume that it heralds some kind of forage into that universe..
To make matters more interesting, this is not the first I hear about such a thing, a few months back I heard something about Spartan acquiring a Halo licence, but not much more.

Sunday, February 1, 2015

Yep, got my Votari crystals finished this morning (I get most of my painting done while the rest of the family still sleeps...), just too late to be considered ready in January.
I'm not really happy with the paint job, this will have to do for now, I've already burnt a lot of energy discovering a lot of ways to paint them that I don't like...

I'll get a better scheme for the next batch (and who knows, I might test how well varnish withstands T-Röd, the designated paint removal chemical around here...)

Also made some decent progress on my first batch of Infantry, all bases are painted, just a final grey drybrysh of the sand to be done before adding flock (o yes, I need to paint the actual infantrymen at some point too...)

I've also made some headway (the famous 'Almost done' step) on 4 drop markers, with a scheme tying them to my Aquan force (as the Terquai technically are part of the Sebrutan, I see no issues with having the same scheme for their drop markers...)
Any limitations* will be marked using different coloured dice.

So, where does that leave me, progress-wise?

Progress so far in 2015:

Models:

Aquired:FSA: 2

Completed:FSP:16FSA: 0

Removed: FSA: 6

Not too bad, so far....

In other news: Some time back (two weeks almost!), I played my first turns of the new Planetfall! Unfortunately the game was cut short due to my opponent getting dragged into a game club board meeting (fitting, as he plays Directorate...), but at least I got to play the first two turns:

Last image I snapped of the game

Still, even a short game is better than none, and it really whet my appetite for more, so much in fact that I've already ordered some MDF buildings from Blotz.co.uk, to start replacing the Hawk paper buildings (works as filler, but will probably not survive for too long... )
My opponent managed to score the only TV of the game, when he wiped out a squadron of my light recon tanks who'd dared move near the tertiary objective in the middle of the table, so nominally he managed to push the Kurak forces out of the area...

Still, a rematch is in order, and scheduled for later this month.
Until then I need to get some more painting done!

*In Planetfall, drop markers are used as pre-designated spots for dropping troops or artillery strikes on, Certain markers can only be used for specific troop types (and arty tokens can only be used for artillery strikes...)